On the food beat

Although Bob Masullo of Masullo Pizza (2711 Riverside Boulevard) works longer and harder hours than most can imagine, he still manages to stay abreast of culinary developments and trends. He was first locally on the black garlic tip, and he recently offered a pizza that was topped with both sambal (an Indonesian chili sauce) and bottarga (cured fish roe). I asked him how he keeps up:

“I read the Tables for Two review in The New Yorker (I like it because it is the proper size for a review). I read a pizza-specific blog called Slice from a group of blogs call Serious Eats.

“I try to eat out at somewhere interesting once a month. I go into Asian Food Market Center, Oto’s Marketplace or Corti Brothers and buy things I haven’t been exposed to; often enough those are dead ends as they apply to the pizzeria, but it is fun, and once in a while you get something really good and useful. The sambal was a recent find. Ed Roehr at Magpie Caterers Market and Café and the folks at Produce Express are full of useful info.

“There is no end of videos from loads of good restaurants on YouTube. And Charlie Rose. He is the only serious interviewer that gives food any respect.”